It might not seem like much, but the 2*555 turned into 3. No surprise there, after all, Subaru is a disease, and it’s a progressive one. In my case, that’s definitely true. Another symptom was noticed on September 29:

After traveling halfway around the world, Subaru finally reports for duty in the Green Corner of Silesia.

But let’s start from the beginning. Last year, the idea was born to look for a new Subaru. Well, “new” for me - not new from the FHI factory. The only real option was a GC8 chassis. I know, not very original. But as someone who came of age around the turn of the millennium, the silhouette of those rally cars will forever remain in my memory as the one true Impreza.

On a side note, I’ve noticed more and more often that the references and patterns from my late teenage years still shape how I see the world, and they don’t seem keen to let go.

Anyway, back to the point. Our local market has absolutely nothing to offer and I say this after years of monitoring every listing alert on all car sites. The days of finding GTs for a few thousand PLN are long gone. To make matters worse, the more interesting versions seem to come priced with all the emotional baggage and nostalgia of their previous owners.

So, I had no choice but to hop on the JDM train and try to source something myself. I won’t claim it was a rational decision - it wasn’t - but to make it at least somewhat justifiable, I had to find something unique, truly JDM. And in our Subaru world, there’s nothing (well, almost nothing) more JDM than a Type R or Type RA.

The Type RA tempted me a lot, especially the pre-facelift one. There’s something magical about it. Just smile at the lady at your local DMV, beg for a “L555 BAT” plate, and boom you’re back in 1995. But in the end, I went with the Type R. After all, two doors are two doors.

I knew I had to approach the process systematically, so I set a few guidelines:

• Budget around the price of a 2–3-year-old VW Golf,
• Body condition first - no rust (so any S or C grades on the report were out),
• Mileage around 150,000 km,
• One year for the search - absolutely no rush.

And that’s how, at the end of September 2024, the adventure began.

Everything was fairly straightforward thanks to Filip from Japan Imports. My job was basically to check the listings daily, more out of habit than necessity, since new cars don’t pop up that often.

Whenever a potential candidate appeared, it went through an on-site inspection at the auction house, followed by the final decision: bid or not.

It quickly became clear that Version 5 and 6 cars, as well as all Limited editions and anything with mileage below 100,000 km, were out of my price range. Type R/RA prices are steadily climbing, the later models or special editions already go for ridiculous amounts. You can see the change even over the past year, so it really felt like the last call.

The search took nine months. During that time, 63 cars appeared for sale. I ordered inspections for about 20 of them and bid on 4 - once missing the winning price by less than ¥100,000 (~2000 PLN). I also kept a sales spreadsheet to track trends and have a good “feel for the market”:

And finally, on June 25, 2025, it happened: MY98 Subaru Impreza WRX Type R STi Version 4.

Auction houses use a fairly clear grading system. The overall condition is rated from 6 to 1 (with half-points), where 6 is nearly new - basically a showroom car with negligible mileage. They also use special ratings: X, ***, 99, RA, and R (Funnily enough!), which indicate varying levels of repair or modification.

In practice, a car’s rating rarely drops below 3. If a car doesn’t qualify for a 3, it’s most likely been in an accident or modified to such an extent that it falls into one of the special categories. The vast majority of Type R and RA cars are rated R. I didn’t automatically exclude those, after all, a nearly 30-year-old car, built for more than grocery runs, is allowed to have a “history”. What matters is where, on the car, that history happened.

That’s where the auction diagram comes in: it marks all defects and repairs. My rule was to accept R-grade cars only if the replaced or repaired (XX) panels weren’t on the rear quarters. Anyone familiar with Impreza anatomy knows what “just a small bubble on the rear arch” really means. So any rear bodywork repairs were a hard no for me.

I also paid close attention to rust ratings: S (rust) and C (corrosion). Those were instant deal-breakers.

As you can see from the auction sheet, my Type R got an overall 3.5 rating, C for interior (meaning average, age-appropriate condition), and none of the panels had been repaired. A good telltale sign is the presence of original WRX decals, since they’re pricey (and reproductions are only recently available), they usually don’t return after repainting.

This lack of bodywork repairs was confirmed during the inspection the paint meter found no filler. Happy days!

Inspection day photos:

The interior:

Most important part:

From underneath: great. I expected that, since the auction house always provides a panoramic photo of the underbody. Apart from a rusty exhaust, everything looked solid:

Sure, I’ve seen better, sometimes you come across examples where even the bolts still have factory torque-seal marks. But nothing to worry about here, which was confirmed upon delivery.

Coilovers, Cusco lower brace, reinforcements, exhaust - clearly, this one’s been driven. The engine bay looked a bit neglected (prophetic words, ha ha).

That’s all for now, just an introduction. The top priority is registration and all the hustle that comes with it.

How it turns out we shall see.

• Impreza
• Gc8
• Type-R